1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a cover open/close mechanism to open/close a cover unit by pivoting the cover unit that covers a part of an apparatus body, and an image forming apparatus incorporating the cover open/close mechanism.
2. Related Art
An image forming apparatus contains various parts that can be replaced by opening/closing a cover unit of the image forming apparatus. A cover open/close mechanism provided to open/close the cover unit has a typical configuration in which the cover unit is rotatable about its rotating shaft fixed to an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus. In such a cover open/close mechanism, the cover unit rotates about the rotating shaft so that a free end of the cover unit moves in a receding direction from the apparatus body. According to the movement of the free end of the cover unit, the cover unit changes from a closed state in which the cover unit covers a part of the apparatus body to an open state in which the covered part of the apparatus body is exposed. The free end of the cover unit is one of both ends of the cover unit in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal length of the rotating shaft, and is a positionally changeable part by an opening/closing operation of the cover unit. An opposite end of the free end of the cover unit in the receding direction is referred to as a root end.
In the cover open/close mechanism with the rotating shaft fixed to the apparatus body, any parts or components included in the apparatus body in a manner of facing the cover unit in the closed state are arranged not to interfere with the root end when the cover unit opens or closes.
However, as an example configuration, an image forming apparatus includes a cover open/close mechanism that has a cover rotating shaft at the end of an open/close cover. In this configuration, a hinge part including the cover rotating shaft is exposed outside the image forming apparatus, which is visually awkward. Further, to avoid interference with an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus, the shape of a root end of the open/close cover is limited and a round-shaped root end cannot be formed in the configuration.
As another example configuration, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2012-126027-A discloses a cover open/close mechanism having a configuration in which a position of a cover rotating shaft with respect to an apparatus body changes so that a surface of a covered part and a cover unit are arranged close to each other without exposing the cover rotating shaft in a closed state of the cover unit. The cover open/close mechanism of JP 2012-126027-A includes a cover rotating shaft support member to support the cover rotating shaft and change the position of the cover rotating shaft with respect to the apparatus body by rotating about a support member rotating shaft that is disposed parallel to the cover rotating shaft.
As yet another example configuration, an image forming apparatus includes a cover open/close mechanism that includes an arm that is freely rotatable in an open state of an open/close cover of the cover open/close mechanism. Due to the arm, the position of a cover rotating shaft and the position of a support member rotating shaft are switched in a widthwise direction of a covered part of an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus, which can cause an unstable open/close operation.
In the above-described cover open/close mechanism, a cover rotating shaft is located closer to a root end side of an open/close cover than to a support member rotating shaft. This configuration causes change in position of the cover rotating shaft and the support member rotating shaft in the widthwise direction in a closed state of the open/close cover. Such inconvenience can also occur when the cover rotating shaft of the cover open/close mechanism is located closer to the free end side of the open/close cover than to the support member rotating shaft.
In the above-described cover open/close mechanism, the cover rotating shaft has an axial center extending in a vertical direction. However, the same inconvenience occurs when the axial center of the cover rotating shaft extends in a horizontal direction.